The Shadow Alchemist
by Raven D'Acanto
Summary: Jessie, a girl who happily lives after the time of the second world war, finds herself suddenly placed into a world of Alchemy and magic, where half of the technology she knew of doesn't even exist. PS. contains spoilers.
1. The Train

(A/N: Well, I know I've started a thing for the Shadow Alchemist before, but it died and I never tried to resurrect it. So, here's a new one with a new beginning and a new plot. I hope this one goes further. Who knows, maybe I'll get past 2 or 3 chapters. Please RnR. I know I've said this before, but the more I get the more encouraged I am to keep on going with it. Enjoy!)

Jessie opened her eyes slowly and took in her surroundings. She was on an old fashioned train. Each car was separated into small private rooms. She was in a cheap sleeping car, and apparently she had fallen asleep. Next she saw the markings on her hands and arms and her heart skipped a beat. Tattoos; she had tattoos spiraling up her arms all the way to her elbows. On the backs of her hands were circles with symbols on them. Alchemy circles. She knew what they were before she could comprehend her knowledge. She shouldn't have alchemy circles, she shouldn't know what they were or what they meant, and, above all else, she shouldn't know how to use them.

She then noticed a note was lying on the seat across from her. She opened it and read the familiar, yet foreign scrawl:

_Jess,_ (the nickname struck a chord)  
_I congratulate you on becoming a State Alchemist. Take train 103 to Central Station. Two others will be on the train, too. They will be traveling together. One, a Sate Alchemist, just accepted like you, the other a new member of the State Military. They seem inseparable from what I've heard. Go ahead and say hi to them, you'll probably end up working with them. But behave yourself; we don't need another goof off in the military. You and the two others will serve under Lieutenant Colonel Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist. He doesn't take much seriously, but he's a prodigy and gets a lot done when he wants to. He's been in the military about fifteen years; eighteen if you count before he quit.  
Another thing, be sure to keep your tattoos hidden. I don't want to have to explain why you have them. It was hard enough to convince them to accept you once they found out you were my daughter. Some people seem unhappy about the fact that my whole living family's in the military. Your mother can't wait to see you. She will be with me, and FullMetal might be coming, too.  
We expect great things from you. The only other child accepted into the Military so young was FullMetal. Thirteen, I can't believe it. You've been away four years, and grown so much. Your title will be the Shadow Alchemist. Congratulations again and good luck in the Military._

_Fuhrer Roy Mustang_

Jessie leaned her head against the wall and let out a sigh. Sheknew all this already, but it wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be here. Something different was supposed to be.

She shut her eyes and racked her brain; then she remembered. _Jessie and her two friends, Yuki Silver and Isabel Thomspon, were walking from school. They did this every day and nothing was out of the ordinary. But suddenly the air seemed to shift and everything changed. Her two friends were still beside her, both schocked. She looked ahead of her and Jessie's heart jumped into her throat when she saw the horrific scene displayed before her._

_A giant gate with an eye inscribed in it stood feet taller than her. The gate opened inward, slowly and eerily. Inside, hundres of eyes upened in unison and looked town at the trio. Chills flew through Jessie's body as the eyes seemed to pierce through her. Black fingered strands burst from the gate and wrapped around Jessie, Isabel, and Silver. Jessie let out a cry of terror, but it sank into the darkness and died before anybody could hear it. She was sure her friends were calling too, but could neither hear or shift to see them._

_Everything seemed to fade together. Specific memories were gone and all she could remember was pain. Horrible pain that surged through her. She remembered screaming for help, but not being able to hear her own shouts. The pain lasted for a long time, until Jessie blacked out. Then, she woke up on the train._

When Jessie came back to the present, she realized she was shaking. She jumped when somebody knocked on the door. "Yes?" She called through the door. An old woman opened the door and peeked in at Jessie, who had hidden her arms hastily under a coat that lay beside her.

"Do you need anything, miss?" The woman asked.

Jessie forced herself to be calm and act like she actually _knew_ what was going on and why she was here. "Yes, how long until we reach Central?"

"Don't worry, miss, I told you I would get you a few minutes before, so you can prepare. Central's a way off, still."

"Thank you," Jessie said, suddenly remembering what Roy had said in the letter she added, "Also, where are the other two Military members heading to central?"

"They're in the next car over, room five,miss."

"Tell them I'm coming?" Jessie requested.

"Yes, ma'am." The woman said with a small bow.

"Thank you." Jessie said, dismissing the woman. She closed the door, leaving Jessie alone again.

She found a purple colored wrap that was the same shade as her top and shorts, that were also made of a type of wrapping cloth. Jessie slowly and carefully used the thin strip of cloth to cover her whole hand, even her ingers, and wrapped it up to her elbows, where the tattoo ended. She did the same with her other hand and arm then deemed herself safe to go and see the two soldiers. She found black fingerless gloves and hsoes on the floor beside them. She realized that she wore the same cloth wrap around her feet to about her knees. She slid on the shoes and gloves and put the coat on, which didn't have sleeves and fell down to her ankles.

Jessie left her small room and went into the next car. Every car seemed to be identrical: a long hallway, windows to show scenery on the right, and doors to the private rooms on the left. At the end of each car sat somebody like the old woman Jessie had talked to. Their job was to take care of the passengers. Jessie went down to the door that had a five printed on it and knocked.


	2. Meetings

(A/N: the end of the chapter's happy, but kinda phony, too. I don't like it much, but that's ok. The stuff coming up should be fun. I have no plan for what's ahead, so it promises to be good! Thx for the reviews. I appreciate them. Enjoy!)

The door slid open and Jessie held her shock in place when she saw two very familiar faces. But Jessie just held out her hand and introduced, "I'm Jessie Mustang. I was just accepted into the State Military as a State Alchemist. I heard two others meeting the Fuhrer were on the train, so I thought I'd come and say 'hi'."

The girl who had opened the door caught on fast and smiled, "I'm Yuki Silver, you can just call me Silver, and this is Isabel Thompson. I'm with the State Alchemist, Isabel's just in the Military."

The three fell into friendly conversation, almost like they had known each other for years before. Jessie was careful not to mention her vague memories about the huge gate and the world she had lived in before, and Silver and Isabel didn't bring it up either. Whether they were Jessie's friends or not, she wasn't going to ask on this train. She didn't know who could be listening in on their conversation, or if they even knew what she would be talking about. It would be best to talk to Roy, first.

As if she was reading Jessie's thoughts, Isabel asked Jessie, "So, how much do you know about the Fuhrer, anyway?"

Jessie, deciding it would be best not to mention he was her father, just said the basics, "He became Fuhrer a few years earlier, after the old Fuhrer, Bradley, was outted as a conspirator. The one now was the one who found out about Bradley and fought him. One of Bradley's soldiers shot the Fuhrer in the eye; not a fond memory of his… he was married to a woman named Riza. She went up the ladder in the Military behind the Fuhrer with the intention of protecting him. They had a kid…" Jessie hesitated, realizing she wasn't paying much attention to what she had been saying, "…who was just recently accepted into the military herself."

"Wow," Silver said quietly, "So the Fuhrer's whole family's in the military. That's amazing. I wonder how everybody else feels about it."

"I hear they're not too happy." Jessie replied, thinking back to Roy's letter to her, "I don't think they like the idea of so many people in the same family with so much power and control."

To Jessie's relief, Isabel shifted subjects now, "Do you know anything about our commander, the FullMetal Alchemist."

"Well, I heard he's worked in the Military for quite a while. He quit a few years ago, but came back after some incident." She shook her head, "That's all I know though."

"How do you know so much about the Fuhrer?" Silver asked curiously.

Before Jessie could reply, the woman who had spoken to Jessie earlier knocked on the door. When Silver opened it, the woman looked over at Jessie, "We're almost there, miss. I thought you'd like to know."

Jessie smiled, "Thank you." The woman nodded and left. Jessie turned back to Silver and Isabel, grateful she didn't have to answer Silver's question, "I'm going to get ready now. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye." Silver and Isabel returned as Jessie left.

By time Jessie had gone through her belongings to become familiar with them all, the train had stopped in Central Station. Although Jessie opened her room stood to leave only moments after the train had stopped, others had made a line, or a throng, to the exit. When Jessie finally got herself into the group and off the train, she found Silver and Isabel had already gotten out and met with the Military members that had gone to get them.

Fuhrer Roy Mustang was a noble man. He stood proud and strong, dressed in military attire; resembling the previous Fuhrer with a patch over his left eye. Next to him stood his assistant and protector, Riza Mustang. Riza's blond hair was pulled tightly into a bun and wore pretty much the same outfit as Roy. She had two gun holsters secured safely to her sides and was standing at strict attention.

The two were talking to Silver and Isabel happily until Roy noticed Jessie. He looked over and smiled at her, "Welcome, Jessie Mustang, the Shadow Alchemist." The formal greeting seemed strange to Jessie, being somehow used to hearing him speaking familiarly to her.

But she replied in the same formal tone, "Thank you, Fuhrer Mustang, for this opportunity you've given me."

Roy laughed and Riza couldn't help but break her emotionless face with a smile. "It's good to see you again, Jess." Riza said, reaching out to hug her. Jessie returned the hug, but felt strange. She couldn't remember what her life was like before the gate, but for some reason, this wasn't it. It was different, and this contact with Riza was almost foreign to her. But what was stranger than this feeling, was the feeling that this was how it was _supposed_ to be; like her whole life had been wrong until the moment she had been pulled through the gate and into this strange world.

Silver seemed to be the first of the two to put the pieces together. She turned to Jessie, "So, _you're_ the Fuhrer's daughter?" Jessie looked to Roy, then nodded.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Isabel asked, eyeing Jessie and Roy.

Jessie shrugged, "I didn't know how many people I should tell. They might think I got in the easy way."

Roy nodded in agreement, "It would be best that you didn't mention this to anybody else, either. I'm not telling you to lie about it, but just avoid the subject. It doesn't need to be a huge secret. I'd just prefer that it wasn't common knowledge."

Nobody could reply before a loud voice spoke up behind them, "So this is the little kid who's supposed to be the newest military prodigy. I gotta admit, Roy, she sure as hell looks _a lot_ like you." Everybody turned to see a short blond boy wearing a huge grin and holding a sandwich he apparently just bought. He eyed Jessie closer then added, "but a lot of her looks like Riza, too. I guess your kid couldn't be as ugly as you are." He laughed obnoxiously and Roy crossed his arms, taking on a cool façade.

"Keep laughing, FullMetal." He said, looking Ed in the eyes, "This kid's going to be under your control from this point on. And I guarantee she will be the one to give you all the trouble you gave me."

Ed sulked and Jessie couldn't help but laugh. Maybe this place would be more fun than her old home, too. She looked over at Silver and Isabel and could almost tell things were only going to be going up from here. As far as she could tell, there was no downside to this place. She had alchemy, her father was in charge of the entire military, and her two closest friends were right beside her for all of this. Silver and Isabel smiled at Jessie; she hoped her friends were thinking the same as her. She was sure this was going to be fun.


	3. Dinner and a Dream

(A/N: Mkay…. I could be totally wrong on the whole Ed/Al stuff I'm putting in this one. I dunno if I said it already, but I've seen all the tv episodes…. But not the movie -tear-. I'm looking for it… but I dunno where it is. Damn. I kinda had fun with this one…. More fluff… but I'm adding a lil plot in there…. Even tho I don't even kno wut the plot's gonna be yet neway. -oops-.)

Jessie sat in her bedroom in silence. Riza was making dinner, Roy was teaching Black Hayate some new tricks, although the dog only listened to Riza. Jessie was sitting on her bed, looking at her room with curiosity. She knew this was her room, it looked so familiar, yet, like everything else, it wasn't right. This feeling the kept rising in her was driving her mad, so Jessie stood and left the room. The house Roy had bought for the three of them was pretty simple. There was a basement for storage and the ground level. On the first floor was the kitchen, living room, dining room, everything they needed. There was a small set of stairs that led up to a bathroom on the right, a small hallway ahead and another set of stairs jammed in between. If you kept walking, you'd go down the hall and find Roy and Riza's room, along with a small room for Black Hayate. The second set of stairs lead the way to a single door, Jessie's room.

As Jessie walked swiftly down the stairs, she could hear Roy grumbling about the dog, who seemed content with just watching Roy try to teach him. In the kitchen, Jessie could hear Riza humming as she cooked. It was a soft lullaby Riza used to hum to Jessie as a child, when she couldn't get to sleep. Jessie shook her head, how the hell did she know _that_? She couldn't even remember being a child in this house, or any other that included Riza and Roy. So how could she remember a lullaby?

Roy looked up at Jessie, who entered the living room. He was sitting on the floor, bent over at eyelevel with Black Hayate, trying to teach him the trick. He straightened and sighed, "For the life of me I can't get this dog to roll over."

Jessie laughed, "Didn't Riza teach him that when I was still here?"

Roy nodded dully, "But he won't do it."

Jessie sat next to Roy and looked down at Black Hayate, who tilted his head to the right, looking at Jessie. Jessie looked the dog in the eyes and commanded, "Roll over." Black Hayate lay down and rolled over to the left, then again to the right. He sat up and was once again looking at Jessie. She smiled and looked over at Roy, "He can roll over. See?"

First, Roy was astonished, then he became determined, "Roll over." He commanded, taking on a military tone. Black Hayate looked at Roy, tilting his head again, his ears perked, but didn't move other than that. "Roll over." He said again, but Black Hayate didn't do anything. "Roll over, Damnit." Roy said, losing his temper slightly. Black Hayate yawned, lay down, then rolled on his side and mocked going to sleep.

Riza laughed at Roy's attempts, standing behind them and leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready." She said once Roy had stood up and Jessie turned half way around to look at her. Roy helped Jessie up and the two followed Riza into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Riza had put three plates with food on them on a small counter in the center of the room. Riza picked up her own plate and lead the way through the door to the left; the dining room. The dining room was simple: a table, six chairs, and shelves against the walls with trinkets and decoration. One wall was dedicated to the Military, with awards and medals Riza and Roy had earned on the field. Newly added was an award that stated Jessie was apart of the State Alchemists now. The three sat at one end of the table and Black Hayate came into the room to beg.

"Go in your corner," Riza commanded, pointing to a small corner of the room with a blanket dedicated to the dog. Black Hayate did as he was told and lay down in the corner. Riza nodded with satisfaction and the three dug into the meal.

The conversation at the table consisted mostly of Riza and Roy being proud of Jessie. They warned her about things she needed to know, told her about members of the military, Roy's personal guard (mostly just soldiers that reported directly to him): Alex Louis Armstrong, a soldier overly proud of his strength, Jean Havoc, a smoker who was confident and let down often, Kain Fuery, a young man who followed Roy's direction without thought, and Heymans Breda, the trickster with a horrible sense of humor.

Roy also assured Jessie that these four would always be available to help her if she ever needed it. Then the conversation switched to Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist. He joined the State to learn about the Philosopher's Stone. He and his brother had paid a hefty price to bring their mother back from the dead, and failed at it. Al, his brother, lost his whole body. Ed had sealed his soul to a suit of armor. Ed lost one of his arms and one of his legs. (Roy made a joke about how some things really did cost an arm and a leg… but Riza didn't seem to think it was funny, so he moved on.) But now Alphonse had his body back and Ed had his arm and leg back. The story behind it all was either a mystery, or Roy refused to tell anybody about it. Either way, Ed was now the FullMetal Alchemist for no reason and nobody knew how he became not-metal.

After dinner, Jessie helped Riza with the dishes while Roy sat in his study doing… whatever he did in his study. Jessie went to her room and fell asleep soon afterwards.

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Dreams are a wonderful thing to have. Memories aren't always. When somebody has a past they don't want to remember, they repress the memories. But those memories don't go away, they come back as dreams. There are many people in the world that are haunted by their memories. Jessie didn't know when it began, but they were now. Her sleep was disturbed by memories that didn't make sense and images that couldn't possibly be true.

_Jessie was walking home from school, happy it was finally out. She wished she didn't have to go to school. She wished it could be like in television shows where students are exceptional and some how manage to be genius without going to school. Geniuses like Edward Elric in her new favorite show. It had just started airing that month, and Jessie was already in love with it. Something in it told her everything she wanted to know. She had always known that there was more in the world. She had always thought that alchemy really wasn't a lost cause or a hoax. But nobody believed her._

_Now a show was out that confirmed everything she had thought to be true. All over her binder she had scribbled alchemy circles, knowing exactly what they all meant. But kids just stared at them with a blank face and asked her what the hell was wrong with her. They thought she was insane for believing in alchemy. Then the show came out. Some kid that had laughed at her a few months before saw the circle and smiled, telling her she did a pretty good job and that he liked the show, too. She told him she didn't get it from the show, but that just made him laugh and turn away. He never talked to her after that._

_School was horrible. It made her miserable. And her two friends didn't even believe her. Silver had said the show was cool, but alchemy couldn't be real. Isabel didn't like 'that kind of TV', and turned away the subject immediately. Jessie went home to two people she barely knew. Some people called them Mom and Dad. She called them Katie and Dan. They weren't her real parents. Her real dad had been killed in a war and her mom, trying to avenge him, also got killed. War was horrible, yet everywhere she turned. Why did everybody have to fight? Why were they always at war? It didn't make any sense. Why did everybody have to die for no reason at all?_


End file.
